Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Blocks: Suggested Procedural Guidelines for Emergency Physicians

Abstract

Acute pain is one of the most frequent, and yet one of the most challenging, complaints physicians encounter in the emergency department (ED). Currently, opioids are one of several pain medications given for acute pain, but given the long-term side effects and potential for abuse, alternative pain regimens are sought. Ultrasound-guided nerve blocks (UGNB) can provide quick and sufficient pain control and therefore can be considered a component of a physician’s multimodal pain plan in the ED. As UGNB are more widely implemented at the point of care, guidelines are needed to assist emergency providers to acquire the skill necessary to incorporate them into their acute pain management.

Comparative Evaluation of Analgesic Efficacy of Ultrasound-Guided Pericapsular Nerve Group Block and Femoral Nerve Block During Positioning of Patients With Hip Fractures for Spinal Anesthesia: A Prospective, Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Study

“…Systemic analgesics and sedatives that are commonly used to treat acute and positional pain in hip fractures include opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ketamine, dexmedetomidine, etc., and each group of drugs is known to cause specific adverse effects, especially in the elderly population, like respiratory depression, urinary retention, sedation, cognitive impairment, delirium, acute kidney injury, emergence reactions, and bradycardia [2,3,6]. Ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks have become the standard of care in treating acute pain, procedural pain, and as a part of anesthetic management for hip fractures, as they provide superior analgesia with minimal adverse effects [7][8][9][10].…”

Knowledge, Skills, and Ability on SME Performance: A Systematic Literature Review Authors Dorris Yadewani

“…Regional anaesthesia (RA) has become a prominent component of multimodal pain management in emergency medicine (EM), and its use has increased rapidly in recent decades (Hernandez & de Haan, 2022). The objective is to improve the ef f ectiveness of ultrasound -guided nerve blocks perf ormed by trained personnel, as a key element of multimodal pain management regimens in the ED (Brown et al, 2022).…”